Black Sabbath are proud to announce 'The Ten Year War', a limited edition vinyl box set, released September 29th via BMG, that brings together their eight Ozzy fronted albums, plus a swathe of other rarities, all housed within exclusive artwork created by renowned street artist, graphic designer and activist Shepard Fairey.

Despite Black Sabbath's multi-million selling albums and rabid fan base throughout the seventies, this adulation wasn't always mirrored by the music press at the time. The band received more than their fair share of criticism, prompting them to publish 'The Ten Year War' brochure; a playful dig at journalists with the witty tagline:

"More good press than most – more bad press than any."

The brochure is reproduced in full for the box set and is one of the many exclusive items held within that also includes eight vinyl LPs meticulously reproduced in their original sleeves, re-mastered by renowned mastering engineer Andy Pearce from the original tapes and pressed on 180 gram splatter-coloured vinyl, each LP with unique and individual colouring.

Also included are two rare 7" singles, reproduced in their original sleeves, the Japanese version of 'Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me)'/'Black Sabbath' and the Chilean version of 'Paranoid'/'The Wizard' (only 100 copies of the original radio promo were pressed), plus a crucifix shaped Black Sabbath USB stick, exclusive to this box set, which can be worn round the neck and contains MQA high definition audio of the first eight Black Sabbath albums.

As well as all that, you get the extremely rare 'The Ten Year War' brochure, reproduced from the original publication, a hardback book featuring accolades from the cream of rock royalty, coupled with official and candid iconic photography of the band during their 1970s tours, recording sessions and photo-shoots, the Tenth Anniversary World Tour 1978 Official Programme, impeccably reproduced and a reprinted tour poster from the 1972 Seattle Centre Arena show.

Each boxset is individually numbered.

MetalTalk is running a competition where one lucky reader can win themselves 'The Ten Years War' vinyl box set.

To stand a chance of winning, then correctly answer the question below and one lucky entrant will be picked out by our computerised random number generator.

Which member of Black Sabbath is wearing his wife's red tights on the cover artwork of the album 'Sabotage'?

A) Geezer Butler B) Tony Iommi C) Ozzy Osbourne D) Bill Ward

Competition closes at midnight October 31st.

COMPETITON ANSWER AND ENTRY

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Tony Iommi returned to Regent Sounds recently, the very place where Black Sabbath recorded their first two albums, 'Black Sabbath' and 'Paranoid', both released in 1970.

The Black Sabbath founder spoke to Phil Alexander about the forthcoming 'Ten Year War' box set and his time in the band that spawned Heavy Metal. MetalTalk was there and you can watch the interview here: